Meet the Indian from ‘Patti Cake$’, the breakout hit from Sundance 2017

5 minutes with Siddharth Dhananjay

India-born, Indonesia-raised and now US-based rapper-actor Siddharth Dhananjay started off making parody videos of famous hip hop numbers. Look up “Dhananjay the First” on YouTube and you’ll find him giving his own spin to familiar numbers such as ‘Say My Name’ (Destiny’s Child) and ‘Let Me Love You’ (Mario).

That certainly paid off because he caught the attention of Geremy Jasper, director of Sundance breakout hit Patti Cake$—a movie about a Jersey girl struggling to make it in hip hop’s big leagues. In it, Dhananjay stars as the titular character’s best friend Jheromeo.

Vogue chats with him before the release on his film in August 2017:

You got the role after director Geremy Jasper spotted your hip-hop videos on WorldstarHipHop. How did it all start?Our first video was something we did for Grinnell’s annual Titular Head Film Festival. A friend of ours put it up online and the response was amazing, so we decided to keep making them.

Where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics? What is your writing process like?The videos are a collaborative process between two of my friends and me. Most of the writing comes from my friend Matt. I am more involved in performing the character on screen and directing the videos. We try not to take ourselves too seriously and make something fun, colourful and most importantly, catchy.

Top three musical influences or artists?I’m gonna go with Candlemass, Lil Wayne and Rahman sir.

Can you tell us a bit about your character in Patti Cake$?In the movie I play Jheri, Patti’s best friend, sidekick and number one fan. He’s a similar version of the character I play in my videos. I tried really hard to create and internalise a credible backstory for him. Where does his dad work, what is his mother like, what was his childhood like and so on.

Say you could spend an afternoon with any fictional or historical person. Who would they be, why them, and what activity would you have planned?Ramya Krishnan’s character from Padayappa, because she’s so badass and stylish. I’m sure we would be best friends. We would go shopping around town and have lunch somewhere fancy.